


The Little Saphire and the Henchman of Uk'otoa

by WatchTheAntagonist



Series: Fjorester Week [1]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: (Fjord and Avantika), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe-Mafia, F/F, F/M, First Meetings, Mob Boss Jester, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-31
Updated: 2019-03-31
Packaged: 2019-12-29 19:39:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18300674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WatchTheAntagonist/pseuds/WatchTheAntagonist
Summary: Fjord hadn’t wanted to be the right hand man of a gang leader, but with possible answers to the mystery of Vandren’s disappearance dangled over his head he didn’t have any other choice. Until he encounters a rival group and their leader, the mysterious Little Sapphire, that is.





	The Little Saphire and the Henchman of Uk'otoa

**Author's Note:**

> For day one of Fjorester week: Alternate Universes. This ended up getting really long, so I decided to make it have multiple parts. I'll probably post the next part next week. This is my first time writing for this fandom, so let me know what you think! Kudos and comments are always appreciated. Warning for a pretty unhealthy relationship dynamic between Fjord and Avantika, though it's more implied than directly written.

               “You don’t really believe that the Little Sapphire is capable of being a threat to me?” Avantika whispered in his ear as she leaned down and kissed the back of his neck, looping her arms loosely around his waste and pressing up against his back. He tried not to think about her behind him where he couldn’t see what she was thinking. If he gave in and looked around, it would be her victory.

               “I don’t know about that, but she does have the backing of the Ruby of the Sea. That shouldn’t be taken lightly,” Fjord said. Her breath tickled the hair on the back of his neck as she let out a small chuckle.

               “The Ruby hasn’t been seen in almost a decade. And all the money in the world isn’t any use if the one wielding it is an incompetent fool.” Avantika dismissed Jester once again, and Fjord thought back to their brief meeting with the blue Tiefling. He had been at Avantika’s side as one of her guards again, and he wasn’t entirely sure how to feel about that. On one hand, any movement up in the hierarchy got him closer to Avantika, and thus closer to finding out what really happened to Vandren. On the other, it brought him closer to dangerous people like Jester Lavorre. The attempted peace talks had really just been an excuse to see the other boss face to face and hopefully get a better read of her, so it hadn’t been a surprise when the negotiations fell through. What had been a surprise was the Little Sapphire herself. She had seemed. . .happy wasn’t quite the word he was looking for. Neither was carefree, as she obviously was very passionate. Cheerful and mischievous were coming close, but neither was perfectly suited for the Tiefling. She had felt so. . .light. Somehow, in their world that is so entrenched in darkness, she had felt like a beacon of light.

               Fjord couldn’t even imagine the amount of strength that would take, to remain good and happy and light when faced with violence and suffering. He had tried, at first. When he had first heard about Vandren’s death and had gotten the mysterious letter from him that had led him to tracking down Avantika and the other Chosen. He hadn’t really been happy then, not after losing Vandren and then loosing even the image of who he thought Vandren was despite his attempts to cling to it through imitating his accent and demeanor. He definitely wasn’t light anymore, not with the dark power flowing through his veins. He probably wasn’t good, either, though that was the one he still tried to cling to with everything he had left. Avantika moved her hands down, pushing up his shirt and pulling him from his thoughts.

               “If she’s not a threat, why do you keep bringing her up?” Fjord commented. Avantika instantly tensed behind him. Her fingers, which had been tracing his body gently under his shirt suddenly dug into his stomach, the nails almost sharp enough to break the skin. Fjord’s breath caught in his throat. Avantika’s hands moved up, fingernails still digging into his skin, until they encircled his throat. He could feel his pulse speeding up and knew that she could as well.

               “Know your place,” she breathed into his ear. “I appreciate your ambition. . .to a point.”

               Fjord opened his mouth to reply with some comment that would make the situation worse. Somehow, Avantika brought out all his worst instincts that lead him into forsaking common sense and poking at things just to see what will happen. All in all, it was probably a good thing that that was when the wall of fire erupted into the room.

               Fjord jumped backwards, out of the immediate reach of the blaze. The fire continued to rage as he turned around frantically, trying to figure out where the attack was coming from. He through he saw a blur of blue movement, and turned to face it, the shadow-like magic energy gifted to him by his patron gathering in his hand. Just as he was about to release it, a crossbow bolt struck his leg and he cried out, loosing the spell in the shock of pain. He whirled around, firing eldritch energy at random in the direction that the bolt had come from, hoping to get lucky. He couldn’t be completely sure if he hit anything, not with the fire raging deafening him and the general chaos of the room. He had somehow been separated from Avantika when she had leapt to the side, completely dodging the wall of fire that in the chaos, and he had still yet to get a clear visual on their attackers. He whirled around again, starting to get desperate, when something collided with the back of his head, hard. He fell to his knees as he felt himself start to loose consciousness, having just enough time for one more coherent thought before he drifted away into the blackness.

               Was that a lollipop?

 

 

               Fjord didn’t open his eyes immediately after he woke up. He waiting a moment, trying to see if he could hear Avantika’s breathing. She usually woke up before him, but he wanted to know if she was there before he alerted anyone to his wakefulness. He heard breathing and shuffling, but it didn’t sound like her. Avantika moved like a snake—lethargically and without any wastefulness until it was time to strike. She definitely didn’t shuffle from one foot to the other.

               “Hey, are you awake or what?” an unfamiliar voice called and it all came rushing back to Fjord. He cracked an eye open and found himself facing a hard stone wall. Slowly, he rolled over to encounter the rest of a small room and a grumpy looking dark-skinned woman staring at him.

               “Who, may I ask, are you?” he said, defaulting to politeness to try to get any sort of control out of this situation back in his hands.

               “The enforcer who’s fucking tired of waiting for you to wake up,” she growled. Fjord slowly sat up, resisting the urge to pull against his handcuffs. Even if they were loose enough for him to slip out of, the enforcer staring him down didn’t look like someone he should mess with.

               “Well, I apologize for the inconvenience,” Fjord said, stretching out the syllables in a way he hoped didn’t betray his mounting nervousness. “What can I do for you on this fine evening?” The enforcer took a step forward, cracking her knuckles menacingly. Fjord gulped, but she stopped before she got to him. She seemed to catch something out of the corner of her eye and turned towards it, her whole demeanor shifting.

               “Yasha!” she said, and a huge woman walking past the window stopped.

               “What is it, Beau?” Yasha said. Beau hesitated.

               “Oh, you know,” Beau said, a slight blush creeping on to her cheeks, opening the door to the room further and leaning up against the door frame. “The prisoner woke up.”

               “. . .yes?”

               “And, well, you like interrogating people, so. . .I thought, maybe, we could question him together?” Beau dragged her foot around in little circles on the ground, not quite meeting Yasha’s eye.

               “Did you need help?”

               “No, no, of course not, I’m really good at this, I just. . .”

               “So, you don’t need help?”

               “No, well, uh. . .”

               “It’s just, Molly wanted me to come talk to them about something, and. . .”

               “Yeah, yeah, that’s cool. Cool.”

               Both women stared at each other, and Fjord had to be a little grateful that his hands were tied, thus preventing him from facepalming. Gods, this was painful to watch.

               “Tell her she looks nice today.” Fjord tried to hide the words from Yasha’s ears with a cough. Beau glanced at him.

               “You look nice today,” Beau said, completely straight-faced and monotone. Fjord resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

               “Um, thank you?” Yasha said. She and Beau stared at each other in silence for a long, incredibly awkward moment. “I’m going to leave now.”

               “Yeah, yeah. Okay. Uh, see you later?” Beau stuttered out. Yasha nodded and left. As soon as she was gone Beau groaned and sunk to the floor. Fjord couldn’t help but feel a twinge of pity.

               “Maybe try smiling next time?” he suggested. Beau bared her teeth in a pained grimace.

               “Like this?”

               “We’ll work on it,” Fjord said with a wince. Beau’s face softened for just a moment, a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it sort of deal. Just then, a blue whirlwind entered the room.

               “ _Beau_ ,” the whirlwind latched onto the enforcer’s waist in a tight hug. “You will not believe what Oskar just did.”

               “Probably not.”

               “He just challenged Kiun to a duel! If he wins he and Magdelene will be able to finally get married! But if he loses, she’ll have to marry Kiun instead!” The whirlwind jumped around the room during her explanation, waving her hands in the air with every exclamation. It took Fjord a moment to put together that this was the Little Sapphire, leader of one of the deadliest groups in the country.

               “Uh, pardon my interruption, but who is this Oskar?” Fjord asked. He hoped that the question would be polite enough not to evoke her ire. If living with Avantika had taught him anything, it was to be careful how he asked questions and to hoard every piece of information he could get his hands on.

               “Oh no,” Beau said softly. Fjord gulped wondering what he had done wrong. Beau had seemed amenable enough earlier, but maybe that had changed now that her boss had entered the equation.

               “Have you ever read _Tusk Love_?” Jester rounded on him. Fjord mutely shook his head. Jester gasped. “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, you have to read it, it’s so good, it’s basically the best romance story ever.”

               “It sounds fascinating,” Fjord said. He wasn’t a huge fan of romance novels, but he definitely wasn’t going to disagree with the Little Sapphire right after he had woken up in a cell.

               “Did you want me to interrogate him?” Beau asked. Fjord was hoping he wasn’t imagining a small flash of reluctance.

               “Right! That’s what I came down here to tell you about!” Jester said. “Caleb managed to decode Avantika’s journals. We have all the proof for the Plank King that we need, so we’re good!”

               “The Plank King?” Fjord mused out loud before he could stop himself. Though he had never met the man in person, he had heard stories of his ruthlessness. There was no way either Avantika or Jester could hope to stand against him. At least, not yet. Avantika had had plans.

               “Yep! Just needed to let him know that our attack wasn’t unprovoked. Now he’ll have no reason for him to get pissy about us taking unapproved action near his territory,” Jester said. Her giggles and bouncing faded, just slightly, to reveal a sharpness that he had observed at the parlay with Avantika. Her light did not come from naivety. “If we play it right, he might even owe us a favor.”

               “And my role in this?” Fjord asked hesitantly. Though interrogation did not sound pleasant, it was still preferable to not having anything that they wanted at all.

               “You’ll be free to go,” Jester said casually, with a big smile.

               “What?” Fjord said, before he could stop himself. There had to be a catch. “Aren’t you worried about—”

               “You coming back to attack us? Nah. Besides, Beau’s a really good judge of character, and she likes you,” Jester said with a carefree smile.

               “Do not,” Beau grumbled, but there didn’t seem to be any real force behind it.

               And, by some miracle, that was that. Fjord was walked out of what turned out to be an old warehouse, deposited on the street, and told to go on his way. Jester waved enthusiastically as he walked out of sight, trying to figure out if this had been the luckiest or unluckiest days of his life. On one hand, he had just walked away from one of the most dangerous mob bosses in the country with nothing more than a bump on his head. Avantika wasn’t going to track him down either. And, despite the paranoid center of his brain that was trying to convince him that he was seeing a small, cloaked figure in the corner of his vision that vanished every time he turned to look, it appeared that he was actually free to go. He could leave this life that he never wanted behind and start anew.

               On the other hand, he still didn’t know what had happened to Vandren. He had sacrificed so much and had gotten so close to the answers he craved. Now that opportunity was gone. Could he really afford to give up now? But Avantika was probably dead by now, or would be as soon as the Plank King got the information in her journal.

               Fjord stopped in his tracks. Her journal. Jester had said that someone had decoded it. If information about Vandren still existed. . .

               Fjord smiled slightly. It seemed like he hadn’t had his last dealing with the Little Sapphire and her band of Travelers.


End file.
